


O Sole Mio (Guerrieri Del Sol)

by Sinata



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Actually Nico's family owns the club, Aged-Up Character(s), Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Mob, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Betrayal, Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gang Violence, Hazel abandoned Nico sort of, M/M, Miscommunication, Mob Boss Will Solace, Nico owns a club, Or used to, Related to the plot of the original book series, Secrets, Specifically his mom - Freeform, Texting, Violence, correction, minor character injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-01-21 14:15:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12459492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinata/pseuds/Sinata
Summary: Nico awoke in the middle of the night to a tap-tapping on his window. He got up to see a familiar man with glowing golden hair that almost hurt to look at in the darkness and striking blue eyes. He blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't still dreaming before opening the window.The man jumped in, landing softly on the carpet floor before holding up a bottle of wine."Sorry about yesterday, I brought in a drink to apologize and thank you," he said as Nico scoffed."There is literally a club with a bar downstairs, you couldn't have just gone through the front door, rang the bell and ask for a stupid drink?"O Sole Mio means "My Sunshine" in Neapolitan Italian and Guerrieri Del Sol means "Warriors of the Sun" in Italian.





	1. A Not-So-Warm Welcome Home

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [refrigerator humming, chewing gum and instant karma](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9500051) by [locks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/locks/pseuds/locks). 



* * *

 Nico was surprised, and that wasn't something that happened often. 

In fact, he was more than surprised, he was angry.

The apartment that he had above the club his mother owned was his own, and he basically owned the club after his mother put him in charge while she was out doing who knows what. So it was his responsibility to clean and organize and run the place whenever people came in for business. So imagine his surprise when he walked downstairs and found the club covered in toilet paper, spilled alcohol, and a bunch of unconscious kids covered in toilet paper. Among them was his sister, who moved out 5 years ago mind you, and he hadn't seen in 5 years at all. The sight left a bitter taste in his mouth, as he saw the now empty bottles of the whiskey that he bought with his own hard earned money.

 He rubbed his tired eyes awake as he took a deep breath.

"You know what," he said aloud to himself, "I'm too tired to even fudging be angry today."

He ended up spending an hour of what was supposed to be his lazy Saturday cleaning up the mess of vomit, spilled liquor, and toilet paper littered everywhere. Nico had just finished recycling the empty bottles when one of the guys woke up with a loud belch.

"Uhhh~ what happened?" he mumbled as Nico crossed his arms and gave him a look, "who are you?"

"I'm the fudging owner of this place, and I'm going to call the police," he said half-sarcastically, but clearly the guy didn't understand sarcasm because his eyes widened to the size of wine glasses as he quickly sat up.

"Please don't, uh, I mean. . ." he trailed off as Nico leaned back against the bar counter.

"I'm waiting, give me a good reason not to call the police for breaking into my house and vandalizing it," he said, absolutely done with everything at this point and was just about to dial the police when everyone else woke up.

Nico stayed silent as mumblings of 'what happened' and 'I don't feel so good' and 'that was awesome'  rippled through the group before they finally registered a slightly livid Nico in front of them. Nico was patiently watching as one by one their faces turned from half-awake to alarm, he cleared his throat.

"Would one of you mind explaining why the hell you're in my club, and why you decided that you had the right to help yourself to my stuff?" Nico tried to keep his tone light, but clearly, it was showing in his eyes because a few of them looked away. He shot an especially nasty glare at Hazel, who looked at him defiantly.

"Listen, Nico, I-" Hazel began but Nico slapped his hand against the bar table. Making the wine glasses clink against each other and made the group of people in the middle of the dance floor flinch.

"Any. One. Else?" he asked through gritted teeth. 

He didn't need to hear it from Hazel. She was welcome home whenever she wanted to come back home, and Nico would be happy about it. After not seeing her for five years, he'd be more relieved that she still remembered him than mad that she hadn't contacted him for a long time. However, Nico would not stand for it if Hazel decided to drop in without a simple 'hi' and explanation and decided to party it up with her friends after the club was closed, not even cleaning up afterward. Even though it was a club, and clubs were made for partying, today was his off day.

He was mad.

"Um," a black haired girl raised her hand,"we're really sorry, um, sir. We just needed a place to stay for the night. Hazel told us this place was nearby. We didn't mean to break anything, but I guess we got a little carried away," she said as the rest of the group nodded eagerly but Hazel only looked away. Nico contemplated this thought before uncrossing his arms and sighing.

"I don't buy it but I'll let it slide for now," he said eventually as the tension in the room broke and the teens on the floor sighed in relief. Then Nico held up a finger.

"But," the group tensed. "I would like a talk with Hazel first before I let you guys go, you guys are going to stay here and if even one of your bolts I am calling the police," he said sternly as he grabbed Hazel by the arm and walked upstairs.

* * *

 Hazel made no attempt to escape as they entered Nico's room, where Nico sat her on his bed and he shut the door behind him. She flinched as Nico turned around with a look of confusion, annoyance and plain hurt.

Hazel almost couldn't take it when she heard Nico's voice. "Hazel, I-"

"No, Nico, you need to listen," she said, surprised at the calmness of her own voice. Nico's eyes saddened before hardening into anger.

"No, you need to listen! Hazel!" he yelled and Hazel was surprised that this was the same little brother that used to follow her around when Hazel was first adopted into this family.

"I waited for 5 years for you to come back and tell me you were sorry. Or at least let me know that you were okay!" he waved his arms about frantically, "When Mom left, I thought that I was going to be alright because you said that you would come home for the holidays that winter! Mom is still not back after 4 years, and all that time I was completely and utterly alone, doing everything myself. And now you think you can just come in here and say that you suddenly care?! That you think you can just come in and say that this is still your home and you can do anything to it? Well, you're mistaken. This is not your home, there was a place for you here, but it's not for you anymore!" he screamed as a few tears slipped down his pale cheeks. He slumped against the wall down to the floor before burying his face into his knees.

Hazel stared at him, expecting the outburst, and he was right. She really didn't have any right to be here. Quietly, she moved to Nico's side, moving to put her hand on his shoulder, hesitated, then took it back and placed it gently in her lap. Her older sisterly love was really rusty because a few years ago she would've known what to do, but now. . .

Slowly, she pulled Nico into a hug, expecting him to struggle but he didn't. He just lay there limp as a soggy piece of bread, so weak, so fragile. She stroked his hair as he continued to cry.

"Nico, I'm sorry. I should've kept my promise, but that winter. . ." she shivered as she touched the scar that lined her collarbones," I'm sorry."

Nico only grunted in response, she took that as a sign to continue.

"I finished college last year and I wanted to come back, but I ran into some problems along the way," She gestured downstairs where her group waited for her nervously. "It took me a long time to work out but I made a choice and I came back here with them." Hazel wished she could tell Nico it was just to see him but it wasn't. There was something else she was here for, but she couldn't tell him that. She couldn't do it.

"You didn't need them, did you?" he asked, Nico's voice breaking on the word need.

"I... I did. Nico, there's a lot you don't understand, and a lot I can't tell you but in the future, I might just be able to," she said, every word dropping a stone into her stomach. She was lying through her teeth.

"Why don't you just tell me then? You don't have to be so secretive all the time! We never kept any secrets from each other," he wrenched himself away from Hazel's grasp as he looked away, "at least, we used to."

"Nico-"

"Never mind," he said, cutting her off before hugging her again, Hazel almost sighed in comfort. "I'm just glad you're here, you're staying right?"

Just when Hazel thought she could breathe easy.

"Um, I'm staying for a few months, but after that, I have to go back to California again," she admitted as Nico gave her a look.

"What do you mean going back to California? What do you have back there?" he asked as Hazel shrugged.

"Something important that I can't leave."

Nico's look told her that he didn't quite buy that lie either but if he was going to protest he didn't say anything. Instead, he just stood up and Hazel did the same.

"Fine then, I'm still mad at you, and I really want to know what you've been doing all this time, but I'll let you and your new group of "friends" stay for a while. However, do you still remember the house rules?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as Hazel smiled.

The house rules, what a blast from the past.

"Yes."

"Good, now go tell your posse down there the rules and you can go sight-see or whatever you want to do. You've missed a lot in the past years," he said before leaving the room. Hazel, sighing in relief, left the room as well, as she went downstairs to tell her friends the good news.

* * *

Nico sighed as he locked himself in the bathroom, sighing before looking himself in the mirror.

All he could really say is that he looked awful.

His eyes were puffy and red from crying, his face was paler than usual with angry red cheeks from his earlier rage, and his eyes had dark bags under them. He looked like a zombie. He ran a hand through his already tangled hair as he brushed his teeth.

Hazel, he changed feelings like a girl would change clothes before her prom dance whenever he was around her. He mood could go from angry to happy, happy to sad, the list went on and on. However, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong this time. Really wrong. He spat the foam into the sink before washing his toothbrush and rinsing his mouth.

Whatever it was, Nico just hoped that his sister would feel that brother-sister relationship again and tell him soon so he could help her.

He got out of the bathroom and headed downstairs to see the group of people smiling from ear to ear at him, and Nico honestly found it creepy.

 "Um," he rubbed his neck awkwardly, he'd never been good with happy people before. Mostly depressed or drunk people who were giddy, but never genuinely happy. It was a bit nerve-wracking so he couldn't do much else but glare at them.

"What are you guys still doing here?" he demanded, his mood turning from bewildered to annoyed in about 0.2 seconds.

Their smiles dropped and Hazel cleared her throat, "We're going to leave now, we'll be back before dinnertime after we take care of some business," Nico nodded in understanding.

"Whatever you guys want to do, just know that you're bringing back dinner, assuming you're not broke?" he raised an eyebrow and Hazel shook her head.

"No... we're well off," she said before smiling, "McDonald's?"

"You know it," he said, doing a minor sassy hair flip as the group giggled, "Now get out and don't come back unless you have like, 2 Happy Meals with you or something like that," he made shooing motions as the group, still giggling, walked out the door. Hazel stayed behind.

"Nico, thank you, you don't know how much this means to us," she said, hugging Nico as he sighed and took in the feeling.

This was how it was supposed to be.

"Love you too, sis," he said, teasing gently as she slipped away to join her friends, leaving Nico alone in his club.

While she was leaving, Nico noticed a black marking on her arm.

SPQR

* * *

 

Nico cleaned from the dance floor to the table tops to the windows as he tried to think about today. He was interrupted from his glass polishing from a tapping on the window.

A boy stood there, waving. He took Nico's breath away. He had dark black hair and sea-green eyes that reminded him of the time his mother had taken him to see the ocean. He was with a group of people just like Hazel was except they all had leather necklaces.

He opened the door as the man smiled at him.

"Hi there, is there, by any chance, a Hazel around here? We heard from someone that she'd be here," he said, trying to look around Nico into the club.

Nico rolled his eyes, so Hazel had a boyfriend now? Great, she better not expect him to let her boyfriend stay in the club too so they can get all mushy later. "No, she just left earlier, why?" he asked as the boy's smile faltered a little.

"Oh, well, we were sent to meet her halfway, but I guess she's already headed there," he went on mumbling before Nico cleared his throat.

"Right, thanks anyway," he said as he turned around but Nico caught him on his shoulder.

"Wait, I have to know, what do you have to do with my-I mean, Hazel?" he asked as the man turned around. He shouldn't give away the fact that Hazel was his sister, it might put him in a bad spot.

"We're just trying to settle some old argument is all," he said as the rest of the group nodded along.

"What argument?" he pressed as the man took a step back.

"Look, if Hazel is your friend, she'll tell you about it, meanwhile, we're going to look for her and she'll be right back with you," he said before walking away, the rest of the group of people following him.

Nico stared at him, not so shaken up by his beauty but by how blunt he was about his business with Hazel.

He mentally slapped his face as he closed and locked the front door and headed upstairs, flopping onto his bed and closing his eyes. He couldn't possibly get enough sleep in the time he has, might as well do it now.

* * *

Nico awoke to a knocking on his door, which surprised him before he remembered that he was now housing people in his home. He answered with a grunt as Hazel came in, smiling, with a Happy Meal. Nico smiled, it hurt a bit, he wasn't used to smiling, and he just woke up. Meaning that his lips were very chapped.

"I brought dinner! Everyone else is busy eating downstairs, we'll clean up so don't worry about it," Hazel said as she dropped the still warm box into Nico's lap.

"Thanks, Hazel," Nico said, his voice raspy as Hazel placed a chaste kiss on Nico's forehead. "No problem, least I could do after causing you so much trouble today."

Nico grabbed her arm before she left, "Wait," he said as he placed the box onto his nightstand and Hazel turned around to look at him.

"What, did you want unsalted fries? I'm sorry, it's been so long I don't-"

"It's not that," Nico admitted, although he did like unsalted fries, "This is more important than getting fresh fries from the grill at McDonald's, this guy came around an hour after you left and he asked for you. He said something about an argument. Tell me! Is this something dangerous? I can help you," Nico said earnestly as Hazel's eyes turned steely.

"That idiot," she mumbled under her breath as she stood up, letting Nico's hand fall back into his lap. "It's really nothing, it's not dangerous, we had an argument at college and then he moved here before we could settle it. It always stayed with me and my friends for a long time and we felt guilty. We needed to get it off of our chests. It's really nothing you have to concern yourself with, Nico." Her eyes softened.

"Thank you for still caring about me," she said, teasing gently as she hugged Nico and Nico hesitantly took the hug. "but I need to have my own thing too, there are no secrets that I will ever keep from you ever again but only just this once will you let me keep this secret?" she asked, looking up at him hopefully.

Nico sighed as he nodded and Hazel brightened. "Thanks! If you want to come down to eat with us you're always welcome, enjoy!' she chirped as she headed downstairs, leaving Nico in silence in his room.

He still stared at the door where Hazel used to be before he hardened his will. If his sister wouldn't tell him, then he'd just have to find out himself.

There would be no secrets between them, not while he and Hazel still loved each other and considered themselves as a family.

Rule #1 of the House Rules: There are no secrets between family because the family will always be there and never judges.

* * *

Nico fell asleep somewhere along the way, between the transition of finishing his chicken nuggets and eating his apple slices, because he woke up with food all over his sheets.

 He looked at his phone and saw that it was only 8 in the morning, what a relief. He was going to have to work tomorrow so he had to clean up the place before the end of the day. He picked the crumbs and chunks of food off of the black sheets and into the box before heading downstairs.

Hazel and her friends were everywhere, asleep, but the place was clean, unlike the first time they came here. He sighed through his nose, a small ghost of a smile on his face as he began to go back through his daily restocking routine.

Nico could barely believe that his sister was still here, though, in all honesty, he thought that he'd wake up this morning and she'd be gone again. He hummed to himself as he sorted his shelves through the types of alcohol that stood there. Then he heard someone shift behind him, he turned around to see the girl from yesterday, her black hair in messy bedhead style and her eyes still sleepy.

He grunted in greeting awkwardly as he turned around to continue his cleaning. No matter how much Hazel reassured him that they were good friends and people to her, he couldn't bring himself to socialize with them normally because, frankly, he didn't really know how to.

The silence was broken by the girl after a few moments.

"Are you and Hazel dating?"

It was such an innocent question, and even though it broke the ice between them, Nico felt even more awkward than he was before. He knocked over a few glasses and recovered fast enough to catch them. Fumbling with them all the while.

"N-no! We're family! If we were dating that would be gross! I mean, not that I have anything against incest or anything if that's what you think-" he tripped over his own words as the girl giggled all the while.

"If you say so, Nico, was it?" she asked as Nico hesitantly nodded and she gave him a bright smile.

"I'm Angel," she said and Nico almost gagged at the irony.

Nico Di Angelo and Angel, the best of friends, seriously?

"Cool," he said dumbly as the girl got up and looked him up and down. He gulped. Was she silently judging him?

"You're short."

. . .Really?

"That's all you have to say?" he asked, glaring at her as she stared innocuously back. 

"What? It's a fact, it's true, there's nothing offensive about commenting on genetics, is there?" she asked, tipping her head to one side.

Nico had nothing to say to that, and fortunately, he didn't have to say anything because the rest of the group began to stir. What a relief.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," he said to his sister, Hazel, but the rest of the group took at an open statement because they began to mutter a bunch of things.

Hazel silenced them all with a look as she smiled gratefully to Nico, and it made Nico's heart flutter a bit.

"Morning, Nico," she said as Nico nodded curtly.

"Anyways, this is a club, so we don't provide breakfast. Go out and get some yourself," he said and an idea sparked in his head, "In fact, I'll come with you."

Hazel smiled and the others laughed at the joke but then she put a hand on Nico's shoulder. "Thanks for the suggestion Nico, but once we woke up, we were going to go out, Thomas will get breakfast for you so you don't have to come with us," she shot a look at Thomas who stood up a bit straighter, then she looked back at Nico, "So yeah, don't worry, it's the least we can do."

Nico's spirit wilted a little bit but stood back up, "Okay," he said carefully as Hazel beamed and the group walked out, Angel shooting one last kind look at Nico before walking out.

Nico rolled his eyes once he was sure they were gone like he'd ever listened to his sister before. Of course, he'd follow them. It's not like they ever gave off the vibe that they were going to do something normal like go to a zoo or park or whatever Californians do. He grabbed his coat as he took a deep breath. Whatever he was doing, it wasn't creepy, he just cared a lot about his sister and wanted to help her out with whatever she was going through.

He pressed his scarf to the bottom of his face to hide his face and brace the cold, following his sister's path out of the club.

Nico really hadn't gone outside of his bar unless it was to eat out. The kitchen upstairs where the apartment was hadn't been used, well, not after his mother left. It was like her sacred sanctuary, and no one was allowed in there unless they actually knew how to cook. Which Nico didn't, so he ended up eating out a lot and not really exercising. It was a wonder that he was still skinny at all.

Now for the first time in months, Nico realized how much he had missed the fresh air. It was so much better than the stench of human sweat, alcohol, and cigarette smoke. He shoved his hands into his pockets as he tried to avoid the stares of the other people in the neighborhood, a few of them recognizing him as the owner of the club down the street and then looking away. The club he owned wasn't the worst, it wasn't as big as other clubs, but it was actually still really nice with the budget that they had. The supports were concrete, but it was a really nice homey feeling. Refurbished wood furniture, glass furniture, everything that the club ever needed. At night though, it was really crazy and Nico had to clean frequently. What went on in the club. . .

He ignored them as he closed his eyes tightly and then opened him. Focus. You have to focus on what's important right now. He followed them up to the breakfast place, he hid behind the corner as he peeked.

Thomas had gone into the breakfast place but the rest of them kept walking. That's funny, he thought they would eat first and then send Thomas to come home and give him breakfast. He narrowed his eyes as he continued to follow the large group, leaving the breakfast place behind.

It was about nine hours later that Nico finally got fed up with following them. They hadn't done anything suspicious, maybe there really wasn't anything. Hazel's group had only visited a few places to eat, met some people but only seemed to be having a friendly conversation. Heck, they even went shopping, buying little souvenirs of Roman sculptures that probably cost $2.00 or something.

Nico was about to call it quits because it was like, 6 now but he decided to continue to follow them.

And what he saw next shocked him.

* * *

 

Nico was standing just around the corner, watching, when he saw a large group emerge from the darkness of the alleyway and Hazel met what seemed like the leader, half-way. Nico realized, wide-eyed, that the man was actually the guy that had come yesterday looking for Hazel. His face was placid and so was Hazel's, but there was a chilly atmosphere between the two.

He tried his best to hear their conversation.

"Welcome, Hazel, I am sorry about yesterday's delay, you needed to talk to me first but our leader is ready to see you now," he said calmly as Hazel watched him.

"It's not a problem, but Reyna doesn't like to be kept waiting so let's get this done and then we can discuss it further after Reyna arrives. She should be here around next week if everything goes well," she said and the two shook hands.

Nico sucked his breath in, who was Reyna? Why does something feel off about this situation? Percy was about to say something when everything when wrong.

There was a gunshot fired and one of the orange shirt guys fell to the ground in a pool of blood. Angel screamed as everyone drew a gun toward the direction of the gun.

Nico was stunned, he wasn't sure whether to be surprised that someone just got killed before his eyes or that everyone here was secretly armed except for him. 

"Tsk tsk," a woman's voice sounded from the darkness as a woman with silver grey hair and a young, boldfaced woman came out, her gun still smoking. Her eyes flashed with fake hurt as she held up her hands. "Why so hostile? I just saved your lives," she gestured to the dead body as she kicked it, sending a bomb rolling out onto the alleyway ground.

Everyone gasped as they all took a step back and then she laughed. "Relax, it's not lit, but it could've been. You're lucky I was there," she said simply as the man stood forward.

"Why are you here, Hera?" he asked, his eyes sharp as daggers and the woman, Hera, spit onto the ground.

"Why am I here? I'm here because and don't make fun of me, I'm here to ask you for help, Percy," she said, lowering her gun and stepping over the corpse.

Percy held up a hand and everyone but Hazel's team put down their guns. "Why should we help you? What have you done for us?"

Hera glared, "I saved your lives just now," she said hotly, "and you'll want to hear what I have to say, girl, because it might just be the destruction of both your groups or the salvation," she said to Hazel who reluctantly put down her gun and the rest of them followed.

"Good, now then. I'm asking you for help because the group I once belonged to, Olympus, is hunting me. But not for the reason you think, you see, there is another group, the Giants. They are not quite like the Titans that you and Olympus faced together. They are much more terrible and cruel, and they are now the most likely to succeed in destroying both of you. I will assist you in any way I can but do not expect much. I only carry this message, they will come for you soon, when you least expect it. Unite quickly," she said as she stepped back into the shadows and disappeared, dropping her gun on the ground.

Percy stood there, a dark expression on his face. and a woman with blonde hair came up and whispered in his ear. His expression relaxed as he turned to Hazel.

"Pay Hera no mind, she may be Juno to you, but she is nothing to worry about. She is simply-" he was cut off as he was knocked off of his feet by an explosion which made Nico's hair stand on end as he was momentarily blinded.

When the smoke cleared, he saw many people on the ground, unconscious, but the few that were awake were subject to the new, more burlier group of people moving in on them.

Nico's hands were shaking, but he gathered his courage as he picked up one of the guns that slid out of the hands of the orange shirt people and picked up Hera's gun, aiming at them. They didn't notice him, but when he closed his eyes and squeezed the trigger on both, they shot through the air and both of them hit somewhere on him. One embedded itself in his arm and the other in the shoulder.

He roared indignantly as they all turned toward him, but they were too late, Nico shot at the leader's legs and they buckled under him. He continued shooting but soon there were no more bullets and all of them had missed. The rest of the men were bewildered as they tried to drag him to safety, but not before they shot back at him. He tried dodging, but one of the bullets grazed his neck and one hit his arm. Nico let out a soundless scream as blood covered his clothes and he hit his neck on one of the garbage cans in the alleyway. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fell unconscious.


	2. I Have a Drink with a Mafia Boss

Nico had woken up several times.

The first time, he heard wailing and screaming and it hurt to open his eyes. The air smelled of a garbage can and he assumed he was in a pile of garbage as of now. Angel and another orange shirt guy were standing over him. Angel was red-eyed and still crying while the other guy was trying desperately to put pressure on the wounded places on Nico's body. His breath hitched from the sudden wave of agony that hit him and he tried to move away but every breath was causing him pain.

"He's waking up," the man muttered as he took out a syringe of a strange liquid.

He opened his mouth to protest, his cracked lips splitting but no sound came out as the syringe plunge into his neck and he was sent away by a calm flowing tide.

The next time, he woke up in a van surrounded by people. It wasn't an ambulance, that much he was sure of because he was strapped onto a bed but there were no tools decorating the walls of the van. He cracked his eyes open to see Hazel holding his hand tightly and Percy staring at him grimly. There were hushed voices all around him.

"He's not going to live."

"He will!"

"Shhh, he's waking up!"

"I wish Will was here, he'd know what to do."

Who was Will? How was he still alive? The pain was excruciating, he tried curling into a ball but the van suddenly jerked and he screamed, his voice cracking. Then the van exploded with panicked shouts and the next thing he knew, the bed was moving out of the van and Nico was hyperventilating with panic. Everything hurt so much. His eyes were blinded with the pain as he tried to get out of his restraints. Warm, wet liquid red stained his vision as blood seeped through his bandages and then a prick of a needle.

He was floating again, but this time he dreamed.

_Nico sat in the kitchen, scared. His mother and father were always happy, but when Father had brought Hazel home, Mother was mad. She started to say hurtful things, not paying attention to Father's reasonings. They fought, and Nico almost wished that he wasn't there to hear all of this. Bianca would know what to do if she was here, but she was at college, and Hazel seemed embarrassed and ashamed. Eventually, the screaming died down and mother grudgingly took the girl's hand and walked her towards the place where Nico was hiding. He quickly scrambled to the living room and pretended that he was playing the whole time._

_He turned innocently to see his mother smile again, but this time it had a chilled tone to it._

_"Nico, this is Hazel, your new . . . **sister** ," she said, choking on the word sister and Nico dropped the toy block that he had been holding and the castle he was building toppled to the ground._

_"But, what happened to Bianca?" he asked, "She's not replacing her, is she?" he asked hopefully and his mother looked away._

_"Honey, there's something we have to talk about."_

_Nico had never screamed so loud in his life._

Nico jerked awake and he was back in his bed, his head hazy from the dream he just had. The room was dark, save for the moonlight that filtered in through the window, and he was bare-chested, with a few bandages for scratches here and there.

Was everything just a dream?

The burning ache in his arm told him it wasn't. He dared to glance at his arm, wincing in pain as his neck blazed with pain. He touched his neck with his good arm and found a bandage there. He touched his arm and found a heavy bandage there as well. He let out a laugh, hysterically laughing until he began to cough from the dryness in his throat. Wow, he just got shot. It wasn't a good thing, but he never thought. . .  
He pulled the sheets off of him as he placed both of his feet flat on the floor, not broken. Then he stood up only to have his legs almost buckle beneath him. He caught himself with his right arm and pushed himself back up, steadying himself. Nico made his way slowly to the hallway, to the stairs, and then peeked downstairs where the music was blasting.

To his surprise, there were orange and purple-shirted people everywhere, talking to people, partying, getting drunk, and he found Hazel's group running the DJ, bar, and maintenance. He was shocked, he had done all the work himself the whole time, mainly because the social interaction was overrated, but wow, it was so much easier this way. He slowly slipped back upstairs and flopped back onto his bed. Well, now he had nothing to worry about. He'd get to live another day all with the pay and everything. He felt strangely relieved, and he sagged. What a day it was, or two days? Now that he thought about it, he had no idea how long he had been out. His stomach felt hollow, but he wasn't hungry. His tongue darted at his lips as he stared up at the ceiling.

What did he see that day when he got shot? 

The memory hit him as fast as a whip and it was almost scary. His sister, from what he could tell, belonged to a gang and they had this argument with another gang. They were all armed and apparently an enemy gang was going to try and kill them. He touched his arm subconsciously again. If that's just the beginning, and Nico had only lost his arm for a short while, there were so many possibilities that ran through Nico's head that he touched his head to keep the room from spinning. The pain medication, that's probably what they had injected into him and the sleep medication, who knows what it was. It was definitely beginning to take effect. His eyelids felt heavy and he passed out.

* * *

Nico awoke to a tap-tapping on his window. He got up to see a familiar man with glowing golden hair that almost hurt to look at in the darkness and striking blue eyes. He blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't still dreaming before opening the window. The man jumped in, landing softly on the carpet floor before holding up a bottle of wine.

"Sorry about yesterday, I brought in a drink to apologize and thank you," he said as Nico scoffed.

"There is literally a club with a bar downstairs, you couldn't have just gone through the front door, rang the bell and ask for a stupid drink?"

The man smiled, dang, his smile though.

"Could you not?" he asked, shielding his eyes and the man looked surprised by the sudden action.

"What?"

"Smile, it hurts my eyes," Nico said, squinting and the man's face turned from that of a surprise to laughter. An almost musical laugh filled the air and Nico almost blushed.

Nico snorted as he stood back and sat on his bed. "Alright, you said you bought a drink. I won't turn down a free drink, but that looks like pretty expensive wine," he pointed towards the bottle of red wine.

The man chuckled, "It's Chateau Lafite Rothschild, 2009 from France, I bought it as a thank you as I said," he took out two wine glasses, sat on the bed next to Nico, and opened the bottle.

Nico let out a soft whistle, "You're certainly trying to impress someone," he arched one of his eyebrows, "what are you proposing?"

He didn't trust this man, to put it simply. Gang people don't just bring something for a thank you, they always want something in return.

"Nothing, really, it's just a sign of goodwill," he said, pouring two drinks and Nico smiled pleasantly.

"Is that so?" he took one of the filled glasses and raised it to him, "Thanks," he said as he took a swig and almost sighed at the taste.

The man took a swig too, and another, and another, he had so many shots that the bottle was almost half empty. Nico raised an eyebrow before refilling his own glass. 

"So, Mr.-"

"Will, Will Solace," he slurred, and Nico almost laughed. This was the stupidest man he'd ever met. He was so drunk, Nico almost wanted to throw him out the window in which he came. So this was the famous Will. 

Nico scooted a bit closer as he traced Will's neckline, "So, Will, what is it that you really came for?" he said as the man stiffened with discomfort.

 The other man tried to cover up his discomfort with a smile and gave Nico a nervous laugh, "I don't know what you mean."

Nico smiled pleasantly as he pulled himself into his lap, "I think you do know what I mean," he said, raising one eyebrow and the man's face caught on fire. "What do you really want from me? You're in my room, alone, with me, drunk, it's night."

Will gulped as Nico forced him down onto the bed, and then the man finally spilled out everything Nico needed to know, "N-no, it's not that! I mean, I don't want that. I'm just here to see if you're okay and if Hazel was really telling the truth about you and if you were going to tell anyone about-" he realized that he was telling Nico everything a moment too late and Nico's seductive expression flicked to a hard, cold face.

"Really? And that classifies as nothing?" Nico sat on Will's stomach, his arms crossed, resisting the urge to slap his face.

He couldn't believe the nerve of this guy, he was supposed to be the all-knowing healer? He didn't know a single thing about how Nico was feeling right now and how annoying he was. Nico wouldn't be surprised if his patients died from just hearing his voice. Will was just here to pry into his life, and he wanted none of it.

While he was deep in thought, Will smirked and flipped Nico off of him and pinned him down himself. Nico, he would later deny if anyone ever asked, let out a surprised high yelp. His face had a pale dust of pink across his cheeks. Will towered over him with a small smirk.

"You think I would be as meek as that?" he said, his voice now low and dangerous and Nico shivered a little.

"Well, I thought you would need a bit more convincing," he managed to reply without stuttering, "but you just made it that easy."

Will studied Nico's face, suddenly making the Italian more self-conscious of his pale skin and pronounced bags. Then, to Nico's surprise, he let out a loud laugh and Nico tried very very hard not to blush in embarrassment.

"I certainly did make it a bit too easy, honestly, I was going to tell you why I was here. But I was also here for a different reason," Will said as he got off of Nico and Nico quickly sat up, regaining his bearings.

"As I said," Will went on,"I came here to check up on you, I am a top-class healer you know, I need to make sure that you're okay. Besides, you were already unhealthy, to begin with, so you needed a bit more extra attention that most patients," he said, poking Nico's shoulder and Nico glaring at him in return.

"Hazel had talked a lot about you while you were being tended to by my fellow healers, she said you were a very traumatized child and you haven't lived the best life. Someone who hasn't learned the basics of living life is very dangerous to our cause," he said, his eyes flashing with something that Nico couldn't quite place but he glared at him even more.

"What do you mean I haven't learned the basics of life? I know just how terrible life is, and how dangerous it is, so don't even tell me this basic of life shit," he spat and Will simply shrugged.

"Whatever you say, but yeah, I guess I was just a bit worried about my group is all. Lastly, because it's so dangerous that someone outside of our group to know about us, we are going to ask that you please keep this to yourself and forget that you ever saw us," Will said and Nico stared at him dumbfounded.

"What do you mean to forget? I just got shot, that scar will be there forever to remind me. I just saw a man get killed, watching a bomb go off, my sister joining a gang, and a man that came in through my window in the middle of the night like some stalker and you expect me to forget?" Nico wouldn't forget as long as he lived, and he was definitely going to do something about this situation.

Will's eyes turned dark and nodded, "If that's how you feel, we have no choice but to dispose of you."

Nico's blood turned cold and then Will smiled, "Just kidding, we won't kill you, but it would be easier that way. We'll just give you the Mist, that way you'll forget that you ever saw us," he said as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

Forget. In a small corner of Nico's mind, that sounded like the easiest decision he could ever make. But to forget, he would constantly wonder how in the world he got the scar on his arm and neck and why he felt so incomplete. He'd seen enough movies to know that much. However, if he didn't forget, then he would be haunted by the memories and what could he do about it? Stand by and let his sister risk her life over and over again for a gang?

 "What do you think I should do?" Nico asked, choosing his words carefully just so he'd have enough time to figure out what his final decision would be.

Will seemed surprised by this question but then looked up at the ceiling deep in thought.

"Well, thinking on a larger scale, it'd be much safer and maybe the happier option for you to take the Mist. Thinking from my group member's perspective, I would think that they would decide it was safer to kill you rather than keep you alive and risk the possibility that you could overcome the Mist and remember everything again," Will said and Nico shivered at the thought of him dying.

"The last thought that I have, coming from my own personal opinion is that there's more to you than meets the eye. You've shown some responsibility, living on your own for five years and all that. Especially since there could be some illegal business going on downstairs and there could be lawsuits against you because of that. From what my comrades have stated about you, you've shown some serious bravery when you shot at the Giant members and protected us even though you didn't even know us. For that, we at least owe to you to keep you alive as you did for us. Which leaves the option of taking the Mist or. . ." Will trailed off and Nico already knew he was going to regret the decision of asking Will the next question.

"Or what?" he blurted out and Will sighed, leaning back on his hands.

"Or you can join-"

The door creaked open and Will and Nico's heads snapped to see Hazel standing at the door with a tray of soup and water. Her hair still frizzy and her forehead drenched with sweat.

She stepped inside gently and almost dropped the tray of food in surprise when she saw Nico awake and Will there with him. Nico blushed, thinking about how it might have looked like to Hazel.

Hazel momentarily snapped out of her trance and cleared her throat, her facial expression clearly annoyed as Will hung his head in shame. Hazel put the tray of food down on Nico's nightstand and stood across the bed from them with her arms crossed.

"Are you serious right now?" she asked and Nico almost would've flinched if he didn't already know that her annoyed tone was mostly directed towards the blonde next to him.

"Come on, Hazel, it happened on OUR territory. I have to deal with the consequences and him the moment he was able to talk. You know Reyna would do the same," Will said firmly and Hazel only glared at him more.

"Don't bring Reyna into this, you Half-Blood members were never the most rational people, and Reyna would've given Nico a bit more time to recover than you," she said and it was Will's turn to glare now.

"Hey, Reyna would only want to have him fully healed so that he can receive whatever punishment inflicted on him fully and you know it. So don't tell me whether my decisions are cruel or not, you're not the leader and you don't know what it's like to care for a full group, much less the squadron that you led which was almost wiped out," he shot back and this time Hazel winced, dropping her arms to her sides.

Nico wouldn't stand for this, "Okay, both of you, shut up, house rules, whoever owns the house makes the rules. The new rule is that you both shut up until I tell you to not shut up."

Thankfully they both shut up.

"Thank you, now please explain to me everything," he turned to Will, "I'll talk to you about our earlier conversation later once I've had a bit more clarity on the situation I'm in right now."

He was also a little relieved that he'd get a bit more information on what in the world he just got himself into before he made any promises and agreed to sign contracts in his own blood.

Hazel sighed crawled over the bed, sitting next to Nico while still shooting dagger at Will, Will in return also shooting daggers at her. Nico tried not to feel too uncomfortable about the fact that he was in the middle of what was about to be a war in this bedroom. He cleared his throat to break the silence and tapped his chin.

"So, where to start?"

* * *

Nico definitely did not prepare enough to brace himself for what he was about to hear. And what he heard was the most unbelievable part.

 

About 3 years ago, two years into Hazel's college term, she had found or rather stumbled into, an organization called Jupiter, it was small a few years back but when she found them is was already large and still growing. She was on probatio because apparently, she gave off a bad aura and still wasn't trusted.

 

"A really long time ago, there had been a grudge between the founders of the two organizations of Half-Blood and Jupiter who were actually, once, really good friends. But way before them, were the gods, another organization that was known by many names but the Gods of Olympus was the most accurate one," Will began.

Nico snorted at the name, what a pompous name to be giving people but then Will only shrugged and said that it was just the way that they were so Nico shut up and listened to the rest of the story.

"So apparently, these gods had two split personalities, and Nico really thought they should get some therapy for Dissociative Identity Disorder. One was "Roman" and the other "Greek". They had children with many people," Nico also thought that was supremely gross and then wondered whether his father was one of these kinds of people and then shuddered.

"Those people were found and together they created those organizations," Will finished.

"How old are you really? Because if this happened a really long time ago then you really shouldn't be able to remember," Nico pointed out and Will only smiled.

"One of the perks of being a Half-Blood is that time actually slows down for you and your age slower," Will said, puffing out his chest in pride before that pride was deflated by a punch in the arm by Hazel.

"Stop your shameless self-promo," she muttered while Will rubbed his arm in a grimace.

"Geez, just saying, time slows down for you too so it's a neutral statement. But anyways, continuing on before I was so rudely interrupted," he quickly shot another look at Hazel and she only rolled her eyes mumbling "Graecus idiots."

"That's how everything began but then when the Praetor of Camp Jupiter attacked the Councilers of Half-Blood-"

"Hey! You're telling the story wrong, you attacked us first. We were only performing the necessary self-defense for survival," Hazel accused and Will threw his hands up.

"I'm sorry! But isn't this exactly why Reyna sent you to do this stupid peace treaty? Why couldn't we just keep the freakin' 10x stronger Mist that Hecate sent us and just live in pure ignorance? That's what I wanted, but no, Reyna wanted us to "face our fears" and settle it and look where we are now. Sitting in your brother's bedroom, when he shouldn't even be knowing about any of this," he said and that shut Hazel up immediately and Will seemed to calm down and take a deep breath.

"Anyways, we don't know who attacked who first, but we do know that it caused a lot of trouble for the Gods of Olympus and the two organizations in the general. In the next 20 year period, we had a long-lasting war of economic battles and political matters and-"

"You mean the Great Depression? That was you? And it was that long ago?" Nico spluttered out in disbelief and Will rolled his eyes.

"Yes, it was about 80 some years ago, now do you want to hear the stupid story or is everyone just going to keep interrupting me?" Nico reluctantly shut his mouth too.

"As I was saying, all that battle stuff going on and finally Hecate had to put the Mist into everyone to forget that we ever saw each other because we were causing a lot of trouble for everyone involved and not involved. It was about 60 years into the peacetime when finally, the Mist didn't work on some people and we found out about each other. Some ambassador, I don't know who, found out and came to Jupiter and Half-Blood to bring us together for the first talk in a few decades," Will's eyes hardened.

"It didn't go well, I heard from my elders that the ambassador was killed in the crossfire between Jupiter and Half-Blood because we just remembered we never finished that war. So continues on about economic strifes and all that jazz. Finally Reyna, apparently the only voice of reason in Jupiter, says that we should take another shot at the peace treaty thing and end the stupid war officially. It just so happens that I'm the leader now," Will finished and then Nico set off into his list of questions that he was accumulating in his mind.

"What do you mean you're the leader now? You weren't the leader before?" Nico asked and Will sighed, seeming a little wistful and sad.

"I wasn't, there were some complications with Half-Blood, you see. Half-Blood was sort of losing the war and we were disappearing. I just so happened to be there, patching up people and then somehow I rallied up enough Half-Bloods. Former and new, to make the organization again and it was better this time, we were a bit stronger and less run by hatred and vengeance but I don't know much about Jupiter," he shot a questioning glance at Hazel who only looked away.

"So yeah!" he clapped his hands, "That's the story."

Nico stared dumbfounded at the blonde, he said it all like it was so simple, but it sounded all so unbelievable, unreasonable, and unbelievably stupid.

"Okay, Will, I have to admit, you're a really good Storyteller but what's the real story," Nico said, still a bit dazed.

Will's eyes flashed in hurt, "You mean you don't believe me?" he said, his voice wilting a little bit of confidence.

Nico bit his tongue, he wanted to say no, saying the truth would be so much better for him in this situation but saying the truth would also be like kicking a puppy.

And Nico was not a puppy-kicker.

"What I think Nico meant to say," thank the heavens that Hazel finally decided to cut in, "was that this was a lot for him to take in and he just needs a little bit of time to think about it." 

Hazel pulled Nico closer to her and Nico could've sworn there was a bit of jealousy in Will's eyes, "I'll make sure that he doesn't spill the beans to anyone, you just go out the front door this time and leave him. You can come claim him tomorrow for conversation but as a doctor, you should know that he needs rest and food. Not just drinks," she gestured to the wine and that made Will's ears go red. He was a doctor, she was right, but he couldn't believe that he was being one-upped by a person who had basically no medical experience whatsoever.

"Fine then, I'll leave you two to your brother-sister bonding experience," he flashed a dazzling smile at Nico and Nico was almost tempted to smile back.

"See you at noon, Di Angelo, I'll take you out to lunch so that we don't just sit in this gloomy room all day," he said and looked around for the first time, "plus, I think you need to seriously redecorate," he added before shutting the door behind him and Nico just snorted.

He turned back to see Hazel staring back at him solemnly with bright amber eyes glowing in the darkness.

"Nico, we really need to talk."

Now, how many times had Nico heard her say that already?

 


End file.
